Daily News Roundup - Apr 28 2010

The government may sell stake in IOC by March 31, as part of a plan to raise a record Rs400bn from asset sales and use the proceeds to reduce the government’s budget deficit. (BS)

ONGC and IOC are set to get approval from the government to spend five times more on acquisitions, giving them greater freedom to compete with China for assets. (BS)

NPCIL and NTPC have entered into an agreement to set up nuclear power projects, with the latter holding 49% stake in the JV. (BS)

NTPC and SAIL are expected to be permitted to make US$1.1bn takeovers without government clearance. (BS)

SAIL and Posco, who are in talks to jointly set up a steel plant in Jharkhand, are also exploring forming another JV to build a Rs10bn specialized steel mill in Maharashtra. (BS)

TCS has been shortlisted for another tender by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs along with Wipro and Spanco. (ET)

Jindal Steel and Power and Australian coal miner Rocklands Richfield (RCI) plan to form a 50:50 joint venture company to develop a coal-brick project at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. (ET)

Reliance Communications has joined hands with GetJar, the world's second largest mobile applications store, for providing its subscribers with access to nearly 65,000 free mobile applications. (BL)

Power Finance Corporation plans to raise US$1bn through overseas borrowings to increase its lending to local companies. (ET)

Power Finance Corporation plans to approach the RBI to seek the status of an infrastructure finance company. (BL)

IDFC board approved, in principle, a plan to raise up to Rs35bn through Tier-I and Tier-II instruments. (BS)

Unitech stated that it sold 16.6mn sq ft of area in the country last financial year. (BS)

Cipla ties up with Manipal Group promoted-Stempeutics Research to market stem cell-based therapies. (BS)

Ranbaxy plans to launch 100 new products this year and target to become the biggest player in the domestic market with 6% market share in the next three years. (BS)

The Godrej group is on the lookout for personal care companies manufacturing toilet bar soaps in Latin America. (BL)

The NYSE has given Satyam Computer time till October 15, 2010 to file its annual report and remain listed on the US bourse till then. (BS)

The Ruias of Essar Group have injected US$293mn in Essar Oil by subscribing to GDS to part finance its US$1.7bn expansion plans. (ET)

Bharat Forge has got the land for its upcoming SEZ at Khed near Pune, but environmental clearances are pending. (BL)

Bharat Forge expects to start the marketing effort for the first phase of its 10,500 acre SEZ at Khed in the next few months. (ET)

Patni Computer Systems signed a definitive agreement to acquire CHCS Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal American Corp. (BS)

Patni Computer Systems bagged a multi-million dollar five-year agreement for providing policy administration services to NYSE listed Universal American Corp. (BL)

Lupin is looking to buy drug companies in Brazil and Mexico as an entry strategy to the two emerging markets. (BL)

Divi's Laboratories has secured approval from the Development Commissioner, SEZs, for setting up a new manufacturing unit for pharma ingredients near Visakhapatnam. (BL)

Infinite Computer Solutions has signed the R-APDRP with Uttarakhand Power Corporation valued at Rs1.3bn. (BL)

Government is assured of Rs350bn from sale of 3G telephony spectrum, as bids for pan-India operations rose to Rs86.6bn on the 15th day of auction. (ET)

The government informed the Rajya Sabha that direct tax collection during FY10 has exceed the budget estimate and will be very close to the revised estimate of Rs3870bn. (ET)

The MET predicts the monsoon to arrive 10 days before the usual date. (BS)

Six major infrastructure industries which constitute the core sector registered growth of 7.2% in March. (BS)

The country added 20mn new mobile users in the month of March, taking the user base to 584.3mn. (BS)

Exporters would now have to pay more for their shipments as most airlines, including state run Air India, have raised freight rates between 15-30% for both general cargo and perishables. (BS)

Even as the steel ministry is aggressively pitching for an increase in export duty on iron ore, the commerce and industry ministry is considering a minor increase of duty on exports of iron ore lumps only. (BS)

The government indicated that it was open to changing FDI norms for multi-brand retail sector. (BS)

The RBI governor said that India will not be averse to using an instrument such as Tobin Tax to curb excessive capital inflows. (BL)

New bank wage agreement will give staff Rs48bn. (BL)

The FIPB has decided that companies bringing in FDI by issuing warrants will have to convert them into fully paid-up equity within 12 months of the date of issue, or face legal action. (FE)